Sadet a-Tha’leh, South Hebron Hills: Israeli soldiers and an officer known to residents as a settler use drone to scatter flock and hold up a Palestinian shepherd. Eleven goats died and 37 miscarried due to the panic

On Thursday, 8 February, 2024, around 8:30 A.M., while eight shepherds from the community were grazing their flock on their private lands accompanied by Israeli activists, eight soldiers arrived in a military jeep headed by an officer known to the residents as a local settler. They called the shepherds and activists over to them and checked their ID cards. Another military jeep arrived about ten minutes later, and stopped about 70 meters from the pastureland. A soldier who got out of the jeep flew a drone over the flock, scattering it, and then the soldiers chased the animals. The shepherds tried to gather the frightened animals and lead them back to the fold, and then the soldiers began chasing after them as well. The officer, known to the residents as a settler, detained one shepherd, Yusef Makhamrah on site for about 20 minutes. The rest of the shepherds, meanwhile, managed to lead the flock back to the fold, but due to the panic, 11 goats died and 37 miscarried their fetuses. A short while later, a soldier known to the residents as a settler arrived in the community and presented the shepherds with a document declaring their pasturelands a closed military zone for 30 days.